Where to Start with Sipping Rum

Tropical cocktails are pretty much the most popular way to drink rum. That’s perfectly acceptable, but why limit yourself to a mixed cocktail?

You should be sipping aged rum and appreciating all the nuances it offers. But navigating the category and all its different expressions can sometimes be as complex as a premium aged rum’s flavor profile.

Keep it simple by starting with a product that sums up everything there is to love about aged rum: BACARDÍ Gran Reserva Diez.

It’s a standout aged rum because it has a subtle and luxurious flavor profile, with a perfect balance of caramelized vanilla, oak, banana, pear and melon in every sip. That alone is not what makes it an ideal sipping rum.

BACARDÍ Gran Reserva Diez is the right introduction because it has everything experts look for in aged rum.

For instance, Gran Reserva Diez gets its irresistible flavor from being aged under the Caribbean sun for a minimum of ten years. That may not seem all that long, at least if you’re using scotch as a reference point. But the number printed on a bottle can be deceiving.

No need to mix this premium aged rum with anything.

Location and climate influence rum’s maturation process as much as time does. The warm Caribbean climate speeds up evaporation, resulting in 8 to 10 percent of the liquid being lost to the angel share every year. By comparison, that number would hover around 2 or 3 percent if the same rum were aged in Scotland.

This is why rum experts aren’t satisfied with knowing how long a rum has been aged. They need to know where it’s aged to really understand its true maturation level. The investigation continues from there, examining what kind of wood is used in the barrels and whether or not the aging process was continuous.

The best rums, like BACARDÍ Gran Reserva Diez, can stand up to this level of scrutiny. In fact, understanding what goes into each bottle will help you better appreciate the aged rum.